jason
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Posts posted by jason
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OFFENSE: I have a different TE making an impact as a rookie especially in the RedZone - Kellen Davis who is a real physical specimen could be a dangerous weapon for us this season.
I'll go with a theme: guys who do well, and look great when healthy.
Defense: Dusty
Offense: Mark Bradley
On a side note, if Kellen Davis ends up being the impact player this year, then there will either be a major disappointment or injury on offense, or a horrible display of coaching from Turner.
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It's nothing new. I hate Ticketbastard and everyone associated with that company. I hate the brokers who have their hand in the cookie jar and have a secret handshake deal with them (not to mention the league). I hate the scalpers who somehow have a fistful of tickets at every game, standing on the street corner before the gates claiming to "need one".
It's the reason why average fans can't get a ticket without paying three times the cost. It's why I despise people who have three or four sets of tickets and rob other fans by selling three of their four sets for crazy markups.
The entire system is crooked.
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AJ Pyrzinski was as hated as it got when he played for the Twins who were a constant thorn in the White Sox side for a number of years (including this year). In fact, he was involved in a lot of disputes. He became a FA after a year in San Fran and signed with the White Sox and has now turned into a fan favorite. There is typcially a legitimate reason you hate a guy that plays on a rival team (its typically because they are a good player). Ask any Sox fan if they hate AJ now and they won't. Hell, he was a huge reason the Sox won a World Series in 2005.
Torri Hunter was in the same boat and the Sox made a heavy push to get him and again, he would have been welcomed with open arms (why, because I don't give a shit what team you play for, if you are good and can help my team get better than once you join the roster and produce I'm gonna root like hell and start to like you).
Favre is an extreme case, given his long long history in Green Bay, but if he wanted to leave and come to Chicago the only people that should be pissed are Packer fans because he's leaving them to go to the rival, not Bear fans, who are significantly upgrading the QB position with a guy that isn't just class, but very very good (he's still one of the better QB's in the league).
It's one thing if a guy is a dick or a parole, but when all they did was play on your rival team, than if they are good and want to come over, sign em up. If Favre joined the Bears, you could bet your ass that I'd buy a Favre jersey.
I don't think there is any comparison between the players you mentioned and Farv. Further, there is no where near the same sort of rivalry that there was/is between the Bears and the Packers.
I also disagree that the Packers fans would be the only ones upset. There are plenty of Bears fans who would be upset, and you can count me in on that. And judging from the comments thus far, there are at least a few guys here who would hate it.
I'm not sure there is a comparison between Favre and any other player of any other sport. He has been the face of my team's enemy for far too long for me to just look the other way. I'd feel nauseated if he signed with the Bears, and frankly, it disappoints me to hear any other diehard Bears fan say otherwise...especially going so far as buying his jersey.
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Favre should NEVER play for the Bears, or the Vikings for that matter.
Vomitous was the word he used. I completely agree. It's vomitous to consider the idea if you are a Packer fan losing Favre, or a Bears fan possibly gaining Favre. I know it's completely unrealistic, and will never happen, but it's mostly because Favre should be smart enough to know that playing for either the Bears or the Vikings would be a gut-punch to all his most loyal fans.
With that said, have Bears fans become so desperate for a competent offense that they are willing to push aside decades of a heated rivalry, decades of genuine anger and hatred, to sign a guy who has continually ripped Bears' fans hearts out for the better part of his career? It completely baffles me, and I'd hate the signing. As I've said, I consider it blasphemous.
Is there a reason for this? Is it a newer generation of Bears fans raised during the free agency period that has caused less of a rivalry? Or is it simply the fact that the rivalry has consisted of the Packers beating the Bears more often than not during Favre's career?
I don't know about anyone else, but the thought of Favre in a Bears jersey sickens me just as much as seeing McMahon in a Packer jersey.
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Brett Favre to Devin Hester!!!!!
Just a pipe dream that would certainly put the Bears in contention for a SB title.
Blasphemy. That just made me sick. I don't see how any Bears' fan could want this. Thankfully, it will never happen.
What the hell happened to the rivalry? What happened to despising the Packers? I just don't get it. I went to a Chicago v. GB game in Lamblow last year, and let me tell you, they have not forgotten it. They still go on and on about how the Bears suck, yelling out choruses of boos and a song about how much the Bears suck. I will always hate the packers above all other teams, and despise farv for what he has done to my team so many times.
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Interesting video from Forte, he's humble, and shooting for 1000 yards this season. I honestly see no reason why he can't get more.
One note on the video: Bears are without their top passer, rusher, and receiver from last year. Why does that matter? I could understand if the guys did well, but if those top three led to an offense that was widely regarded as a joke, and less effective than several college offenses, then why worry? Why care? The only considerable loss is Berrian, and he hadn't yet shown the ability to be a true #1, something for which he wanted to be paid.
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I find it funny that alot of people throw Rex under the bus.
Yet, think Orton is the savior.
Did you see where anyone in this thread said that? I don't think so. I think you are making an assumption, and it's a very poor one. As far as I'm concerned, I just want a quarterback to step up and be consistent without screwing his team. Rex has been given a ton of chances to do this, and he has failed. Even during the Super Bowl season in which he was wildly inconsistent, he ended up choking in the biggest game of the year and had more trouble holding onto the ball than people in a hog catching competition.
Conversely, Orton was given one real shot to start, and during that season, his rookie season, he did MUCH better than one would expect of a rookie. He showed poise, pocket presence, a strong arm, and a pretty good understanding of reads/progression. What could it hurt to let him have a legit second chance? Lord knows Rex has had more than his fair share of opportunities.
I repeat; I want a QB who does not hurt his team. Along with that, he should have moderate to good success. But the key is, I'd like him to be careful and not kill the team. And until proven otherwise, that's about the best we can expect from the QBs on the Bears roster.
On a side note, are you related to Rex in some way?
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It's really all speculation at this point... I assume any agent will ask for the world. But, you've got to think JA will offer a fair contract. I'd like to see him do it now vs waiting...
If there's one guy I want to see a Bear for life besides Url, Tommie and Mike Brown, it's Hester.
Agreed. I would HATE to see Url, Tommie, Mike Brown, or Hester in anything other than a Bears jersey.
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Cripes, did Rex sleep with your girl or something? Sheesh. Sure, he hasn't been great.
But, he doesn't belong in the same group as Salaam, Benson.......etc.
I disagree. He belongs in the conversation because he has not lived up to his draft position. As far as I'm concerned, he is on the border of bust status.
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Is it the owner, the front office, JA, the coaches, or the scouts? Who chooses the first round selections?
I just got to wondering that, because in a recent fantasy mag they mention the numerous first rounders who have not panned out for the Bears. It's truly disheartening.
Columbo, Haynes, Enis, Salaam, Rex, Benson, and to a lesser extent Tank (2nd)...that's a lot of misses in the first round.
I wonder what the hit to miss ratio is as compared to other franchises?
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I don't know. I do not know of any stadium that has been 100% financed by the public. Even the stadiums that are not paid for at all by the team also have a big chunk paid for through an NFL loan, which team must pay back. So while the owner may not pay upfront, they are still paying for the costs, or at least partially.
As for building new stadiums in pace of stadiums not as old as you would expect to be replaced, I think the key is suites. Suites are the key to bigger profits, and until more recently, stadiums were not built w/ those nice executive suites.
I do think the owners will have to open up the books if they want to make this case. If they open up the books and show a significant reduction in profits since the last CBA was agreed to, and can show how new stadiums and the economy, as they argue, are the key, then I think there is a valid argument, but it starts w/ their opening up the books. No one is going to take the owners word at face value w/o evidence.
And I feel the suites thing has been one of the biggest downfalls in how teams deal with fans in the today's modern sports age. As if the owners weren't making enough money to begin with. The rising player salaries has gone a long way towards forcing the owners' hands to keep the same cut they once had. Along with PSLs, and near collusion with the ticket brokers who consistently allow others to pillage the pocket of fans, it's no wonder that, along with the players' salaries, the average fan has become less sympathetic and less supportive.
I would like to be naive and say that if the players' salaries were lessened, the owners wouldn't continue to rape the fans, but I know that isn't so. Now that they have the taste of blood, there is no way they're letting go of the chum.
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I agree with him. It's ridiculous. The amount these guys get paid is crazy, but to see a rookie get it is that much more insane.
Some will argue about capitalism, but it's not an equal comparison. If it were, there would be bidding wars on each player coming straight out of college, there would be no cap, and the NY teams would be in the playoffs for 20 straight years like in baseball.
It'll be so nice to see rookies actually have to do something to get paid, and not crap the bed, costing their franchise tons of money without production.
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Why was he cut?
He was cut because he climbed through someone's window and dropped a deuce in their laundry hamper.
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I've considered this question ever since the season ended. I already had an opinion, but decided to look up some stats to look at objectively. The stats I've decided to use are the offensive stats vs. opponents offensive stats. I figured that would be fair since it wouldn't include the bogus stats like points for and points against that include special teams data. I'm also not going to include stuff like rankings because they are comparative only against the league that year. Here's the simple stuff for comparison for the years 2005-2007.
The stats are in order: (I would've labeled them better, but getting everything to line up was tough enough)
Att = rushing attempts
yds = rushing yards
TDs = rushing TDs
Rec = receptions
Yds = receiving yards
Y/R = yards per reception
TD = receiving touchdowns
RRTD = rushing and receiving touchdowns
Yscrim = total yards from scrimmage
2005 11-5
Att Yds _TD Rec Yds _Y/R _TD RRTD Yscrim
488 2099 11 219 2201 10.1 11 22 ___4300 __Team Ttl
443 1637 09 313 2872 9.20 10 19 ___4509 __Opp Total
2006 13-3
503 1918 14 282 3446 12.2 24 38 ___5364 __Team Ttl
402 1590 07 328 3116 9.50 18 25 ___4706 __Opp Total
2007 7-9
430 1320 08 347 4000 11.5 20 28 ___5320 __Team Ttl
454 1967 17 343 3708 10.8 19 36 ___5675 __Opp Total
What I'm primarily looking at here are the opponent totals to determine what our defense was giving up each year. In 2005, our offense REALLY sucked and our defense was awesome. In 2006, our offense improved greatly in yards and touchdowns (primarily in the passing game), but the defense fell off it's previous year's total awesomeness. In 2007, our rushing game fell off the face of the earth, but the passing game improved enough to keep the total yardage within 44 yards of the previous years total, while the defense fell off the map giving up nearly 1000 more total yards and 11 more TDs than the previous year.
Looking at it that way, I'd have to say that more of the blame should go to the defense than the offense for last year. The offense sure had their issues too, but the defense just sucked more comparitively to the year before when we went to the Superbowl.
I love the breakdown, and agree that it's worthwhile in its own regard, but I think it's misleading. There are three major problems with this analysis:
1) Turnovers - There is no consideration to the imact turnovers have
2) Impact from the other unit - This could be 1a), but the simple fact is, the offense affects the defense a lot more than the other way around. Reacting to another action is more difficult than acting. The constant 3-and-outs, something the Bears probably led the league in, surely hurt the defense quite a bit.
3) Situational coaching - Because the Bears were down more often than they were up this year, it's probably a pretty safe bet to say that the yardage is only up because the Bears were forced to pass. And as such, they naturally had more yards, but also more turnovers and quick, worthless drives (see 1 & 2). Whereas, the year before, the Bears were ahead more often than not, and able to dictate the pace of the game.
Ignore your stats. Ignore what type of pictures they may paint. Can you honestly look back at the games last year and say the defense was worse than the offense? Go from feel, memory, or watch the highlights. I just don't think anyone who watched the games can say that. The defense may have struggled mightily, but the offense sucked something awful most of the time.
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In other news, water is wet.
This has been the problem with the Bears for nearly every year since...well...since the Superbowl year.
Anyone who would deny that the offense hinders the defense, more than the opposite, hasn't been watching the Bears very closely...especially over the past 20 years or so.
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Maybe I didn't explain that very well. The guy I'm thinking of has 3 pairs of tickets: 1 pair of REALLY good seats 15 rows up on about the 40, 1 pair of GOOD tickets 5th row 1st balcony, and one pair way up in the bowl. He always goes to every game, he just always sells the better tickets for the big money games to cover his costs for all the tickets and sits in the cheap seats.
His whole plan is to increase his chance at SB tickets (as a season ticket holder) whenever the Bears go so he can have tickets to historical Bears games that he can go to. He just uses a more solid financial model. He's also on the waiting list to buy more tickets. The bottom line is that Bears tickets are a commodity. If you want a good price on ANY commodity, you have to position yourself properly so that you can get them at a good price when the time is right. Heck, when I buy my tickets, I may end up with 4 pairs of tickets (because of trying on 3 computers at a time) and only be able to keep 2 pair and have to sell a couple pair.
I think that if you're really a Bears fan and like to go to games, you get on the season ticket waiting list, and do what you have to, to be in front of a ticketmaster location when the tickets go on sale. Otherwise folks are more or less complianing that doing what it takes to get tickets at face value is simply too inconvenient. It's possible to get them, you just have to plan ahead and be dedicated.
Just for the record, I think that what he does is better than my previous statement. If he's going to games, but selling others, then at least he's a fan. Sure, he's still part of the problem, but at least he's a fan that doesn't completely rape the system for his own benefit.
As for the commodity statement, while true, it's a way of looking at things that aggravates the average fan. Sure, tickets can be bought and sold just like many other things, but it's different in a certain way that makes it unique. And the fact that he exploits this commodity, regardless of how legal it is, is the line of reasoning and thinking that has led to where we are today: with most fans disillusioned and priced out of a decent game, where it legitimately costs hundreds of dollars to get two people into a game. That's not only sad, it's a pathetic and greedy point of view in my opinion. People like the guys you know never get to mention the rising salaries and other aspects related because they are the facilitators of that black mark on professional sports ticket sales.
On a different note, I think it's a completely different travesty that he has three different sets of season tickets, and is on the waiting list for another set. This should not be allowed. Absolutely, unequivocally, it's something that should be rejected by the team in order to stop people from mass-selling tickets.
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I missed the part of the discussion talking about how it looks on TV. Agreed, that is looks like a total sell out each time. I think it is more than just a couple hundred seats that are empty at games, but also agree the percentage is not great.
I don't have an issue w/ season ticket holders who sell their tickets, and I have a feeling few do. My issue is with the system in place which creates too many opportunities for brokers to go in and buy up so many tickets, while fans have little opportunity.
For the record, I have a huge problem with both. The season ticket guys who sell their tickets are just minor players in the ticket brokering process, but they're a part of the problem. I think that many who do this will play the "Oh, well, I can't go to the game"-card, but when the tickets go up for sell as soon as they are purchased, over and over and over, and there are consistently hundreds of tickets at WAY above face value on more than one website, then they are no better than the big time dealers.
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As DBDB pointed out, a few hundred empty seats spread out over the stadium probably looks no different on TV than the folks in line to buy beer. BF2K's point was about how upset he gets when he sees all those empty seats on TV. That really never occurs unless the weather is really bad - and even then, it's the season ticket holders that don't feel like braving a subzero windchill and not the tickets sold by a broker.
There ARE alot of guys outside the stadium selling tickets, but as Madlith pointed out, you're taking a chance on fake tickets that way.
I also wouldn't blame all the professional ticketbrokers either. I know guys with several sets of season tickets. One guy has 3 different pairs of tickets. He sells them to his friends at face value +10% most of the time, but he sells 2 pair above value for hot games to cover the cost of ALL the tickets. There are games late in the season where no one is interested and he has empty seats because nobody really wants to sit in the brutal cold.
Are you serious!? Those guys can rot in hell for all I care. I blame every single one of those greedy bastards. There are ALWAYS people that want to go to the game. It's just that most normal fans know that the prices for the games - because of markup - are astronomically high, and the average guy can't afford to go to the games regularly.
If the guys you know are so damn hard up, send them to this message board. I'm quite sure there will be someone to snap the tickets up in a matter of minutes. I just don't buy that "nobody wants to buy the tickets"-BS. I'd gladly sit in the cold for a game, and if the guy has good tickets it's that much better. Last year I sat at the New Orleans game, and I was only 5-10 rows from the ozone layer, and the wind was BRUTAL. I'd do it again in a heartbeat, as would many on this board.
Furthermore, if the guys you know sell the tickets to the "hot games" at a markup to "cover the cost", then they are precisely the worst people we are talking about. They are fans of convenience. If they were true, diehard fans, there is no way in hell they would pass up the big games. You better believe that if I had season tickets, there would have to be a death in the family to keep me away from a Green Bay game. They use the "covering the cost" excuse as a way to rape another fan. They are same type of people responsible for something we saw in this year's NBA finals, and something we see all the time: a visiting team fan in the home team section, in a seat that was obviously a season ticket holder, all because someone wanted to make a buck.
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In my opinion, Leftwich is better than either of the Bears QBs. While I grade them out relatively even, it's Leftwich's composure and leadership ability that pushes him above the other two.
Remember this: Leftwich stood in the pocket with a broken leg.
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In the San Diego game, our defense looked top notch. With everyone healthy we looked better than the previous year. But as we all know Mike Brown and Dusty went down. Those were the 2 postions we were with the least amount of depth and it showed. Health is the #1 issue with the defense and our team. I remember the year we went to the Super Bowl everyone believed we had the best depth in the NFL. We have some players, but we need everyone to step it up and stay healthy and we will be contenders THIS year.
That's sort of what I'm getting at. When the Bears were healthy last year, they looked good. They looked like their defense could carry the team, like many other years. And as long as the offense can produce a little bit, between 14-21, I think the D/ST can carry the team through towards wins.
Essentially the Bears have added several players on defense:
Dusty, Okwo, Williams, Bazuin, the rookies, and the key...Mike Brown.
Without injuries, I don't see why the Bears can't win at least 10 games because of defensive dominance.
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I keep saying that this team has a very good shot of repeating what they did during the Superbowl year. I tell everyone that the injuries killed the Bears last year, and that the TV sportscasters don't know what the hell they're talking about.
Then I see a thread with a theme questioning if the Bears have the best DL in the league. It wasn't totally blown out of the water, so I have to imagine that everyone takes the question seriously and places the Bears DL in the top 5 - rightfully so in my opinion.
It's pretty clear the Bears have one of the best, if not the best, LB corp in the NFL.
It's also evident that the Bears have one of the best DB combos in the league with PNut and The Interceptor.
The safeties are the only real question mark, and I believe that if Mike Brown can be back, the Bears have one of the best Safety combos in the NFL.
So, I ask, why not? Why is it so unrealistic to believe the Bears will be back? We've seen it at least two times in recent past, especially the year the Bears had an offense full of bums, a retarded OC, and a defense that simply wouldn't give in. Not to mention the fact that the Bears have undeniably the best ST in the league.
Is it koolaid to think that the offense will be average enough to not completely sabotage what is an otherwise great team?
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BearFan2000 - I have tried several years to get single-game tickets without success...and I have high-speed internet. I recently watched a show about how the ticket brokers do it, and it's virtually impossible to beat them. They have programs that take advantage loopholes in the ticketbastard software, and can access the tickets faster than anyone doing it legitimately.
DBDB - I'm seriously considering going to the Atlanta game; of course, that would require buying tickets from a legal thief (i.e. scalper). I never know if work will have me in town, and I can't plan that far out in advance. I'll give you a PM when we get closer to the time.
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How many playoff teams in recent years have come in to seasons with even less than that and still had their running game perform? Denver seemingly every year. The Giants last year despite Barber's retirement. The Packers last year pulling Ryan Grant out of no where. The Steelers pulling Willie Parker out of no where.
The lesson I've gotten from watching how these teams do it is that I don't care whether or not you have an unproven RB, it all starts with the O-Line. If the O-Line doesn't perform well, LT can look like crap.
If your O-Line performs well, your RB will at least not look bad even if they're bad at what they do. And if they perform well, then that gives the RB a chance to learn or to be really good if he's actually good at what he does.
Thank you. You replied with a much better response than I was thinking of. The NFL has proven over and over and over again that the offense is built in the trenches, and most RBs who get to this level are good enough to do well if the OL is decent. Other teams continuously find guys that are near no-names, and there is success over and over. The Bears, not so much.
I'm comfortable with a rookie RB starting; it's been done before and with great success. I'm also comfortable with Wolfe being the 3rd down back, because I, unlike most others, think that he is capable of some great stuff on the field if given the chance.
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Not really. I see no reason why the Bears should bring in another WR when the Bears have no clue how good their present WRs may be.
Until the OC, OL, and QB get fixed, the WRs are an unknown. For all we know, the group in Chicago may be capable of greatness.
I personally believe that there is enough combination of speed, power, explosiveness, and talent to do well in the NFL, if not excel...but as I said, OC, OL, QB...
Anyone get through on Ticketmaster last Saturday?
in Bearstalk
Posted
The reason they put those Captcha things in there, where you have to type the word, is because without them the automated system/program created by the bookie could simply overload the system and take nearly all the tickets. It's there to stop a slick computer programmer from beating the system.
Of course, I saw a report about one of these guys not too long ago. He made the system to get all the tickets, and was thwarted for a short period of time by the Captcha thing. So what did he do? He outsourced typists. He simply hired hundreds of people to type in the words as they showed up on the screen. So, it's not 100% automated, but it's about 99% automated, and they still end up getting the majority of the tickets.
It's all crooked.